Asia-Pacific PR Campaign of the Year

Gold

Campaign Title

Client

Agency

Most people in Asia didn’t know Airbnb and in a region where Bed and Breakfasts aren’t commonplace, the notion of staying in a stranger’s home when you’re travelling is extra strange. We needed to open up Asian travellers to the idea that staying in an Airbnb that’s hosted by a local can be a magical experience. Our solution? Turn Asia’s biggest music superstar into a superhost. An Airbnb user himself, we partnered with G-Dragon to create an authentic social presence from inviting people into his home over teasing on Instagram and capturing the journey. G-Dragon invited five fans from around Asia to experience what it’s like to truly live in his neighbourhood of Itaewon. He checked them in, took them for dinner, told them about his favourite neighborhood spots and even left them Airbnb reviews. The partnership enabled massive organic engagement and media coverage throughout the region, increased brand awareness and spiked Airbnb sign-ups.

Silver

Campaign Title

Ford EcoBoost Small But Mighty

Client

Ford Motor Company Asia Pacific

Agency

Ford WPP X Team led by Burson-Marsteller

In Asia Pacific, Ford faces outdated perceptions relating to poor fuel efficiency and many customers are not aware of the great fuel efficient options available. Ford’s EcoBoost engine technology offered the solution to dispel misperceptions and offer customers a compelling reason to buy the vehicle. This inspired the brand campaign idea of Small but Mighty to highlight the consumer benefits. We created a comprehensive brand development campaign around this theme, which was launched simultaneously across Ford’s key Asia-Pacific. Our strategy was to entertain, inform and engage potential car buyers in order to drive awareness and favourability. The campaign was led by a series of short films developed through a partnership with a crowd-sourcing filmmaking platform. Each market developed a localised plan and a complete suite of assets targeted different media outlets, influencers and platforms. We used creativity to drive awareness around an engine technology that typically does not receive attention beyond auto enthusiasts. The campaign was a big success across Asia Pacific and we exceeded our targets thereby helping improve public perception of Ford’s fuel efficiency and enhanced favourable opinion of the brand. The campaign also helped influence behaviour by driving potential buyers to Ford EcoBoost webpage, driving purchase consideration.

Bronze

Campaign Title

Hitting Headlines to Improve Cyber Security

Client

FireEye

Agency

-

Entering 2015, many of the region’s CEOs and boards had never given cyber security a second thought. It’s not that breaches weren’t routine occurrences across Asia (in fact, they were); rather, security in most organizations was so poor that breaches were rarely discovered. How could cyber security firm FireEye meet its ambitious sales targets and help improve the security of governments, militaries and organizations around Asia if most were unaware of the scope and severity of the problem? To change this, FireEye embarked on a nine-month communications campaign to inform the world that organizations in Asia were highly targeted by the types of advanced attackers that sparked major stories elsewhere. FireEye would tap its cyber intelligence assets to shed light on international conflicts and threats posed by advanced cyber attacks. The campaign began with the revelation of a decade-long, state-sponsored cyber espionage operation focused on targets, which hold key political, economic, and military information about Southeast Asia and South Asia. FireEye maintained momentum for the rest of the year with regionally relevant disclosures on other cyber security incidents. The campaign increased sales, prompted Asia Pacific governments and firms to improve their security, and disrupted a 10-year-old state-sponsored hacking operation.